This Billboard in Lima Displays a Message Created From Air Pollution

Campaign for Natural Gas Company Calidda Shows the Effects of Fossil Fuels

By Alexandra Jardine.Published on Dec 06, 2017

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Peruvian natural gas company Calidda is highlighting pollution in the country's capital, Lima, with an innovative billboard--it uses air pollution particles to display its message.

According to the World Health Organization, Lima is the second most-polluted city in Latin America. To promote the benefits of natural gas to mitigate the problem, agency McCann Lima created the billboard in one of Lima's busiest traffic locations. The device in the billboard unit collects CO2 pollution from the atmosphere, stores the CO2 gas, then processes it into a powder which gradually acts as an ink. The board began as a blank canvas but after 15 days of this process, it showed the final message: "It costs me a lot to breathe."

The experiment was recorded and the online film was shared across social media platforms, while the air pollution powder was packaged in the media kit and sent to influencers and the press, along with an invitation to the public to debate Lima's appalling air pollution.

Mauricio Fernández-Maldonado, creative executive VP for McCann Lima, says in a statement: "The outdoor was installed in one of Lima's busiest traffic points, Abancay Avenue, so that we could reach the largest possible audience, while showing the concrete result of fossil fuels."